In 1965 Stephanie Kwolek created the first of a family of synthetic fibers of exceptional strength and stiffness. The best-known member is Kevlar, a material used in protective vests as well as in boats, airplanes, ropes, cables, and much more—in total about 200 applications.
In 1986 Susan Solomon provided the most conclusive evidence for the theory proposed 13 years earlier that CFCs could be destroying the protective layer of ozone in the earth’s upper atmosphere.
Seminal work published in 1912 by Leonor Michaelis (1875–1949) and Maud Leonora Menten (1879–1960), a German man and a Canadian woman, cast light on the reasons why enzymes are so efficient.
Head of pharmacology at Rhône Poulenc in the 1950s
After attending Harvard Medical School, Nancy Chang’s career trajectory led her to cofound Tanox (now part of Genentech), a company that sought remedies for asthma and allergies through genetic engineering.
Reinhold and Ruth Erica Benesch made a key discovery that helped explain how hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells, carries oxygen from the lungs to all the cells in the body.
Overcoming the dual hurdles of racial and gender bias, Marie Maynard Daly conducted important studies on cholesterol, sugars, and proteins. In addition to her research, she was committed to developing programs to increase the enrollment of minority students in medical school and graduate science programs.
Hach-Darrow’s Hach Chemical ensured that clean water flows from household taps and everywhere that water quality is an issue.
In her lab at MIT she creates technologies so small that you cannot see them with most microscopes—until they save a soldier’s life on the battlefield or illuminate light bulbs using stored solar power.
With just two employees, a master brewer’s certificate, and her father’s blessing, Mazumdar-Shaw began a business specializing in industrial enzymes for food and textile makers that now reaches around the globe.